Q&A with Devon Air Ambulance Trust

The Devon Air Ambulance Trust (DAAT) is our main charity for 2013, and we've been raising funds to help keep its two helicopters flying and support the critical work of its dedicated team.

We spoke to Heléna Holt, Chief Executive of the Trust to see how this year has gone for them so far...

What have been the main highlights of the past year? Give us a brief run-down of how many call-outs, rescues and training missions you undertook.

Over the last year we have flown in the region of a thousand missions.  Around 50% of these are medical and 50% trauma, which covers everything from road traffic collisions to falls, burns, industrial accidents and sporting injuries.

HH has raised over £13,000 to date this year - how will this money be spent?

With the changeover of operator for the North Devon airbase from Bond Air Services to the police, we have had to invest in some new tools, equipment and bespoke panel holding racks for planned maintenance and engineering on site.  This sum of money will go a long way to meeting all of these one off costs.

We hear you’ve recently (31st July) taken delivery of a new helicopter which started full operational flying on 1^st September – what impact has this made to date and you expect to see over the coming months? 

The new aircraft has just gone into service so it is too soon to say what impact it has had.  However, what we expect is to at least double the savings on operational costs we have seen from owning our first aircraft, in the region of £14,000 per month.  With economies of scale from owning the second, we should be able to realise even more savings, which we have earmarked for funding extended clinical skills training for the crew and future night operations.  These plans will increase our availability significantly, particularly during the winter months when the nights draw in but people are still of course liable to accidents and illness.

Operationally, although both of our EC135 helicopters look the same, the new GDAAN does in fact have several enhanced customised features.  In our strategic plan, we aim to be flying into the night in 2016/17.  The new helicopter is compatible with this.  The aircraft interior has been painted with special non reflecting paint and all instruments and lights produce light at a waveform that will not interfere with the use of night vision goggles (NVG) – meaning it can operate more safely at night.

There are also illuminated steps, which enable the crew to exit and eneter the aircraft safely when operating in the dark, as well as on the ground cabin lighting.  Traditionally helicopters generate electrical power when the engines are running.  On the ground lighting runs by rechargeable batteries meaning the paramedic cs will have sufficient light to treat patients at night even when the aircraft engines aren’t running.

The electrical system on the Air Ambulance has also been enhanced so that it has the ability to not only power the medical equipment we carry, but by introducing 230v AC sockets we can also power hospital equipment when undertaking transfers of seriously ill patients to another  hospital.  We have also design ed the system to charge our Mobimed patient monitor when the aircraft is on the ground.

We hear that before the new helicopter went operational, it embarked on a tour across the county giving the public the chance to meet the pilots, paramedics and hear about the plans for the future. How successful was the tour?

The tour was a huge success.  It was so important to us to be able to say thank you to the whole community who have helped to make the purchase possible and

You’re celebrating your 21^st birthday this year, what celebrations do you have planned? (21^st birthday events at Darts Farm on 7/8^th September)

We are all really excited about the birthday weekender at Darts Farm on 7^th and 8^th September.  This year we have a family fun day from 10am to 4pm, which will include emergency services demonstrations, lots of fantastic local food and drink, activities for children, #devonhour #tweetup from 1pm to 3pm and live blacksmith demonstrations, plus our aircraft will be dropping in between missions.  In addition, there are three ticketed events this year:  BBC Radio Devon’s John Govier will be broadcasting live from our marquee from 10am to 1pm; The Cannon Ball is from 7.30pm on the Saturday night and Show of Hands have a family concert at 5.30pm on Sunday. 

What other key events do you have organised for the rest of the year?  How can our readers and members of the public support the work of the DAAT?

After an exceptionally busy summer, there is no let up this autumn.  We are looking forward to the Agatha Christie Sea Swim on Sunday 15^th September, a one mile swim in the sheltered waters of Torbay off Broadsands.  After this, we have our Annual Golf Day at Bovey Castle.  This is a fantastic course, with excellent hospitality, and the event is a great opportunity to cement business relationships for companies putting in teams or sponsoring one of the holes.  Then National Air Ambulance Week is from 23^rd to 29^th, when we are encouraging local businesses, associations, schools and individuals to Be A Hero for a day to raise money and awareness.  In October we will be very busy with the Commando Challenge.  Details of all these events, and how to take part can be found on our website at http://www.daat.org/events.

Of course people can always support us through membership of our lottery, volunteering in, donating to and shopping in our charity shops, through regular giving or leaving a gift in their will at http://www.daat.org/donate.

What key plans and expectations do you have for 2014?

We are very excited about working with local communities across Devon to identify and support development of local community helipads, to facilitate our objective of introducing night operations.  This will make a huge difference to the number of patients we will be able to assist in future.  In addition, we are working with the local ambulance service to provide extended clinical skills training for the aircrew.  To support the additional cost, as well as utilising savings realised by owning our own aircraft, we will be expanding our network of shops, particularly looking to find outlets in the North, West and Mid Devon where we are less well represented.

If you’d like to make a donation, visit www.justgiving.com/helpfulholidays at any time or you can also make a contribution when you book a holiday through Helpful Holidays.

Cream Tea, Cricket and Charity with Gidleigh Park

Helpful Holidays and Gidleigh Park Hotel go head-to-head in style next month in our annual charity cricket match. 

We're raising money for our charity for 2013, the Devon Air Ambulance Trust. Last year, the match raised over £4,200 for Farms for City Children.

Both teams will don their whites on Sunday 23^rd June 2013 and head to the cricket pavilion in Chagford for 2pm. They will play a limited overs match and while it is for charity and it is for fun, cricket fans will witness strong play from the two closely matched teams.

Our marketing manager Adrian Innocent said: “Last year we saw a magnificent batting display from the Gidleigh Park team to clinch a late win in what was a massive run chase. It was fabulous fun and one of the best displays of clean striking and six hitting I’ve ever seen. For those who would rather just sit back and soak up the atmosphere, they can enjoy the beautiful setting of Chagford Cricket Club, backed by the brooding Meldon Hill.”

Tickets for the Grand Raffle are available from Helpful Holidays on the day, or in advance, and prizes include a champagne lunch for two at Michael Caines restaurant at Gidleigh Park, a weekend break in a 5* Helpful Holidays cottage, a spa treatment for 2 at Bovey Castle, dinner and stay for two at The Arundell Arms with private fly fishing lesson and much more.

The afternoon promises to be the perfect English summer treat, with a hog roast, food tent and decadent cream teas served by Gidleigh Park. Photos from last year’s match can be found here. 

For Information call Helpful Holidays 01647 433593. To plan your next visit to the West Country and to find a holiday home, go to http://www.helpfulholidays.com. 

Our 2013 charity: the Devon Air Ambulance Trust

We live and work in Devon, so when the time came to choose our charity of the year for 2013, the Devon Air Ambulance Trust seemed a natural choice. 

Each year, the Trust raises £4.5 million in funds to keep 2 helicopters flying to relieve sickness and injury across the county of Devon. The result is an outstanding, independent and efficient Air Ambulance service, available to all, 24 hours a day.

The Trust’s story starts in 1986, when 18 year old Ceri Thomas was involved in a collision whilst out on his push bike. A road ambulance took him to hospital, but sadly he died later of his injuries. Ceri’s mother Ann asked the doctors at hospital if there was anything that might have been done to save her son. She was told the quicker a patient receives emergency medical treatment, the better chance there is of survival – so, on 27th August 1992 the Devon Air Ambulance Service went into operation.

We've first hand experience of the Trust’s excellent work. We're based on Dartmoor and no less than three of our members of staff have been airlifted so it is a charity that is very close to our hearts. You never think you will need the Air Ambulances yourself but, when you do, it is so reassuring to know that they are there. We live and work in a beautiful but remote part of the county and the speed with which the helicopters and medical crew can reach us really does make a difference.

The pilots are highly experienced, usually with a military or service background. Paramedics are employed by the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust and seconded to the Air Ambulance. They undergo extensive training on navigation and safety skills prior to becoming aircrew, with regular refresher courses as well as continuing professional and clinical development.  This training is supported by the charity.

A small team works behind the scenes at the charity's office in Exeter and its network of charity shops across the county. Volunteers are also essential to the Trust through their contribution to fundraising, community involvement, public relations, administration, practical support and campaigning.

We hope you'll help us spread the word about this wonderful charity and the excellent work it does. We'll keep you updated on our fundraising efforts during 2013.

If you’d like to make a donation, visit www.justgiving.com/helpfulholidays at any time or you can also make a contribution when you book a holiday through Helpful Holidays.

Helpful Holidays raises over £15,000 for Farms for City Children...

We're delighted to announce that we've raised an amazing £15,581.85 for our 2012 charity of the year, Farms for City Children. 

We arrange over 17,000 cottage holidays a year in the West Country and we can’t thank our holidaymakers enough for their generous donations. By combining them with the proceeds of a hugely successful charity cricket match we held on a sunny Sunday in June against a team from Michael Caines’ Michelin-starred restaurant, Gidleigh Park, and a parachute jump by four brave members of the Helpful Holidays team, we’re delighted to have raised so much money for a charity for which we have great admiration.

Farms for City Children was founded by children’s author Michael Morpurgo and his wife Claire in 1976 with their first farm, Nethercott House in Iddesleigh, deep in the heart of Devon. They now have two more farms, one in Pembrokeshire and the other in Gloucestershire, and the charity aims to expand the horizons of children from towns and cities all over the country by offering them a week living in the countryside on one of the farms. For more details, read our blog post from earlier this year.


Our Helen with farmer Barry Searle and children at Nethercott Farm

Our PR Manager, Helen Hayes, went along to Nethercott House to present a cheque to the charity and had an opportunity to meet the schoolchildren from Sunnyhill Primary School in Streatham. She said, “It’s always a delight to come to Nethercott and to see first-hand the great work the charity does for all the hundreds of children who pass through their doors every year. It’s been a great year for our fundraising efforts and we’d like to thank everyone who has helped us reach this outstanding total.”

Each year we support one of three main charities which are close to our hearts and invite our holidaymakers to make a small contribution, if they wish, when making their bookings. Our charity for 2013 is Devon Air Ambulance Trust. Visit our Facebook page to help us kick off our fundraising for 2013 - we're donating £1 for each new 'like' or 'share' between 10am on 19th December and 5.30pm on 21st December 2012.

There when you need them...

The Devon Air Ambulance Trust (DAAT) is one of our main charities and over the years we've raised over £15,000 to help keep its two helicopters flying and support the critical work of its dedicated team.

DAAT was our chosen charity for 2010 so we were delighted to meet up with them recently to present a cheque for £1,712 to supplement the trauma training manikin donated early last year. As well as donations by staff, the fundraising effort is kindly supported by our holidaymakers throughout the year and Helpful Holidays matches the total raised. A big thank you to all involved.

We've first hand experience of the DAAT's excellent work too. My colleague, Christine Phillips, explains, “We are based here on Dartmoor and no less than three of our members of staff have been airlifted so it is a charity that is very close to our hearts. My own daughter, Merryn, was just two weeks old when she needed airlifting from Dartmoor to Exeter Hospital last autumn. You never think you will need the Air Ambulances yourself but, when you do, it is so reassuring to know that they are there. We live and work in a beautiful but remote part of the county and the speed with which the helicopters and medical crew can reach us really does make a difference.”

Caroline Creer, Director of Fundraising for Devon Air Ambulance Trust said, “We are very grateful to all at Helpful Holidays for their superb support. It is certainly a coincidence that we have been able to assist in three emergencies for them directly, but, whether it be for residents of our beautiful county or for holidaymakers enjoying the area, we are thankful for the generosity shown by the staff and customers of Helpful Holidays.”

Pictured above, left to right: Helen Mackie, Devon Air Ambulance Paramedic involved in the rescue of little Merryn; Christine Phillips and daughter, Merryn and Helen Hayes of Helpful Holidays.

For further information on DAAT and the wonderful work they do, please visit their website or follow their news on Facebook or Twitter.

Helpful Holidays donates over £60,000 to charity...

We're delighted to announce that we are to donate more than £60,000 to a range of leading charities operating in and around the West Country.

The first four charities to benefit are the Devon Air Ambulance Trust, the Marine Conservation Society, Farms for City Children and the RNLI. Many other regional and national charities will also receive donations throughout the year. ShelterBox, the Cornish based charity famous for its delivery of aid boxes, has already received a donation of £1,000 for its Haiti appeal.

We raised the funds from the VAT saved during the recent ‘VAT holiday’. Rather than taking extra profit or discounting our already published prices, we donated the 2.5 % VAT cut to our charitable fund. Helpful Holidays General Manager, Moray Bowater, said, “The VAT reduction made such a small difference to the cost of an individual holiday but we book over 17,000 holiday cottage breaks each year so we knew those small amounts would soon add up. It seemed a golden opportunity to raise some cash for the charities being hit hard by the recession.”

Each year, Helpful Holidays adopts a charity and invites its holidaymakers to make donations when booking their holidays - this year it is the Devon Air Ambulance Trust. At the end of the year, we match the sum generated by our holidaymakers. In 2009, over £2,600 was donated to the RNLI.